In All But Blood
by Whisker Biscuit
Summary: When asked why Jak and Daxter got along so well, Keira would usually smile and tell her curious audience that had just always been the case. Unfortunately, getting asked about something repeatedly tends to make you question your own reply, and for Keira this was no exception. Too bad she has to go straight to the source for her answer. Oneshot.


Jak and Daxter. Jak and Dax. The Demolition Duo. The hero who had saved the world several times over, and his furry talking companion who went along for the ride.

They were so different, had completely opposite personalities, and everything they did contrasted with each other. And yet nobody ever wondered why they were always together. Okay, that was a lie, almost _everybody_ they knew wondered why they were always together, but nobody – except maybe Torn – had ever outright asked them. Instead, they'd come to Keira, mostly because Jak wasn't really approachable on that subject (or any subject really), Daxter could only be handled in small doses, and any attempt to ask Samos often resulted in the old sage muttering about fate, precursors, and "I don't know why they had to pick _that orange furball_ , of all people". When asked why Jak and Daxter got along so well, Keira would usually smile and tell her curious audience that had just always been the case for as long as she could remember, and her response satisfied most. Unfortunately, getting asked something repeatedly tends to make you question your own answer, and, with a mind that already wanted to know how and why things worked, Keira soon found she was wondering the same thing as those before her. This time, however, she would have to go straight to the source.

Once she really thought about it, Keira realized that the question had been bouncing at the back of her mind for quite a while, but she never seemed to get the opportunity to ask. The duo were always out doing this and that, wreaking havoc from one place to the next, and even when she did see them, it was only for an instant; a quick wave, a call of 'hey guys' – rarely returned – as they darted in and out of the apartment she lived in. Nearly two weeks had passed since she had first felt the need to know, and Keira was honestly getting a little impatient.

One day though, she finally got her chance.

In a moment worthy of the Idiot-Book-of-Records, Jak had decided to see if he could cross the south end of Haven City to the north in under twenty minutes, traffic laws be darned. Daxter had joined him in half-hearted protest, whining about always getting dragged into things…until his words had melted into screams of terror when the zoomer started pushing ninety miles an hour and barely avoided careening into a street vendor. Needless to say, the endeavor did not end well, their transportation was now a smoking pile of metal, and Keira was playing nurse to both of them. Again.

"Honestly Jak, I don't know why you do it," she scolded quietly, applying a wet rag against a rather nasty burn on the young man's arm. He grunted from his positon in the chair and she continued. "We all know how these things are going to turn out."

"Except Jak, apparently." Daxter was sitting on the kitchen counter, kicking his legs over the edge and holding a too-large icepack to his head. "Don't try reasonin' with him sweetheart, ain't no brain ta hear ya." The blond rolled his eyes but remained silent. Keira moved between them to check Daxter's condition.

"Since we're on the topic of your incredible intelligence, why did YOU go along in the zoomer if you knew it was such a bad idea? He didn't force you, did he?" At Keira's command, Daxter removed the icepack so she could inspect his head, and started shifting it back and forth between his paws. She brushed a finger over a shallow cut on the ottsel's face, where a small, stray piece of metal from the wreckage had smacked him. A large bruise was forming as well, an ugly shade of purple and almost-black that honestly reminded Keira of dark eco. Thank goodness the piece hadn't been very big, or else things could have been a lot worse.

"Nah, no way Jak could make me do anything! I just had ta make sure the big guy was gonna be alright on his own, we both know how helpless he is without me." Daxter flexed and struck a pose, then winced as his body protested the simple movements. "Ow."

"Mhm, I certainly do," Keira humored, carefully dabbing at the cut with antiseptic and green eco, prompting yet another wince from the furry form, "he is definitely helpless."

"Hear that, Jak? Keira agrees with me!"

"Uh-huh," Jak leaned back in his chair, "I doubt she'd say that if she saw the way you were clinging to my arm like a scared little toddler today."

Keira giggled and Daxter chucked the icepack at Jak's head, which was easily dodged. He then crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue at the both of them, but turned his head away to hide a grin when his best friend snickered.

A few moments passed in relative silence (a pretty big feat with Daxter in the room) as Keira finished her first-aid. The moment she was done with him, Jak went outside to see what he could recover from the destroyed zoomer, leaving the other two to clean up the mess in the kitchen. As she wrapped the leftover gauze into a ball and considered what remained, Keira suddenly remembered her question.

"Daxter?"

"Hn?" The ottsel was a little distracted, having balanced his bottom feet on opposite ends of the sink to wash still-dirty paws. His whole body leaned precariously towards the faucet. "Whatsa matter?"

"Why, um…" she bit her lip, not knowing how to start. "How are you and Jak, I mean…?"

"How are we what? Alive after that spectacular crash? I've been asking myself the same question and I think-"

"It's not that," she interrupted before he could get going, "well, it's kinda related to that. I mean, you didn't want to race that zoomer today, right? But you did anyway. And Jak didn't make you, right?"

"We-ell, he didn't exactly make me, but you ever try arguin' with those baby blues? Guy really knows how to play the pleadin' part." Daxter twisted his torso around to face her, feet still planted against the sink edge. He clasped his hands together and dropped his ears, and his eyes got big and round. "'Pwetty-please, Dax old buddy? I don't wanna ride it without you. It wouldn't be fun without _you._ '" He stuck out his bottom lip and pretended to get teary-eyed.

Keira couldn't help it; Daxter's impression and the thought of big, tough Jak acting that way had her in stitches. She was laughing so hard she almost dropped the first-aid kit. "Ha, no I'm, whew, I'm serious though, Daxter!" She took another moment to calm down. "Why on earth did you go along with it if you were scared? You know, now that I think about it, you're scared over most of the things Jak does-"

"Hey!"

"-and yet you're still doing them with him. Why, Daxter?"

Daxter raised an eyebrow and snorted, turning back to the faucet, "Because it's Jak." The casual reaction shocked her.

"That's it? That's the only reason?"

His head rotated sideways and he gave her a funny look. "Of course it is. Jak's my pal. We do everything together. And I trust the big guy. Just cause he's kinda stupid sometimes don't mean I'm gonna, well," he hesitated a moment, "I dunno, leave him or something." Daxter started to sag a bit, ears drooping, and Keira suddenly wanted to know, for probably the first time in her life, what exactly was going through the ottsel's mind.

"Daxter?"

"Yeah?"

"You just mentioned friends, and I also kind of wanted to know…" Kind of? She had been waiting to ask this question for weeks! "Why, um, it's just that we've always been friends since Sandover, but you and Jak seem to be so close even though you're both so different. And I…" Keira struggled to find the right words, but Daxter, all perked up again, found them for her.

"Wonderin' why?" She nodded. He continued. "That's even easier than your earlier question! Me and Jak, we get each other. He'll protect me from anything, and I can read him like a book," there was a pause before Daxter mumbled, "even though it's the easiest read ever and I don't know why nobody else can see what's going on clear as day in that blond head a' his. Honestly, the guy's no method actor, but even you and Old Green Stuff don't seem to understand him sometimes. No offense."

Keira frowned at that. She didn't like admitting the fact that she could no longer tell what Jak was thinking at every moment, and she also didn't like to admit that she wasn't even sure why she couldn't. Maybe it was because he had started speaking vocally and no longer relied completely on body language. Maybe it was because he – no, that wasn't right – _they_ had changed so much in the last few years. Maybe, and this was the worst to think about, it was that she no longer knew _how_ to read him, because they had grown too much apart. She shook her head to banish that thought, and realized Daxter was still talking, completely oblivious.

"-guess you could say we're almost brothers, I mean as far as an eco-pumped human sidekick with anger issues and a smooth, handsome, devilish ottsel hero go. Don'tcha think?"

She snorted, glad for the constant distraction of Daxter to bring her out of her troubling thoughts. "Isn't that hero-sidekick thing supposed to be the other way around?" Daxter twisted around again and grinned.

"Nah, what I'm speakin' is the facts, toots."

"I don't think Jak would agree."

"Yeah well, what Jak doesn't know won't hurt him. Guy can't handle the real, harmful truth anyway. He's too sensitive."

"I'm too _what_?" Jak came back in through the kitchen door frame, the half-charred remains of a zoomer engine hoisted over his shoulder. He dropped it on the tile floor and gave Daxter a weird look.

"Nothin' pal, don't worry about it," was the quick, fluid reply as Daxter smoothly turned back to the faucet, _again_. "Just havin' a nice little chat with Keira here. That answer your question, babe?" The tacked-on name at the end probably meant that last question had been directed at Keira. At least she hoped so.

"You know…" she stopped and thought about it. Daxter had called them brothers, and now, mulling the word over, she realized that was exactly how she would describe them. In fact, she remembered how Tess had mentioned something along those lines a little while ago, when the two were watching the boys argue about something or other. In between a fit of giggles, she had turned to Keira and said, "You know something? If it weren't for the height difference, I'd think they were related!" Tess was right, Daxter just now was right, and Keira couldn't believe she hadn't come to the same conclusion sooner.

The two _were_ brothers. They may not act the same, and goodness knew how many squabbles they got into, but Jak and Daxter understood each other, had always done so since Sandover, and shared a bond that few would ever be able to comprehend. From jungle to city to desert, between Lurkers, Metal Heads, crime lords and corrupt authority, they stuck together through thick and thin and were all the stronger for it.

"You know, I think it does, Daxter. It really does." Keira looked over at Jak, still looking lost and switching his gaze between them, and Daxter, humming a random tune as he rinsed, paws almost clean now, and for that moment she felt a connection with them almost as strong as theirs was for each other. It brought a smile to her face.

The moment was broken when Jak, deciding he didn't like to be left in the dark, nonchalantly walked over to the sink and pushed Daxter completely under the running water.

* * *

 **This idea has been bouncing in my head for a while (at least more so than all my other ideas) and I really felt the need to write it down. So...here you go.**


End file.
